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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24781096">Welcome To The Wolves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanogon/pseuds/artanogon'>artanogon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Brotherband Chronicles - John Flanagan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Fluffy, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, accidentally finding your best friend making out with someone, dell has several migraines, for now, this is literally just a compilation of Wolves fic that my brain spits out at random hours</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:07:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24781096</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanogon/pseuds/artanogon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just glimpses into the life and drama within the Wolves brotherband, with other characters dropping in to make an appearance occasionally.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Welcome To The Wolves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>well, y’all asked for it</p><p>first up: karl and rollond’s relationship was mostly a secret from people— except for rollond’s poor best friend, dell. this is how he found out, in a very un-ideal and awkward situation. </p><p>(a bit of makeout ahead? but no sexual content. also a lot of fucking swearing)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the height of summer in Skandia, and the burning sunlight beat down on the necks of all the people in Hallasholm. Some took to the water, others stayed inside, others took to the mountains, and all in all, the town was quiet and deserted. </p><p>The absence of people, however, was perfect for Karl and Rollond. On normal days, they had to worry about prying eyes and Tursgud’s friends. But now that there was no one around, it made their meetings much easier. </p><p>Currently, they were sprawled out in the relative shade of the pine forest, flopped on the soft summer grass as Rollond set about trying to teach Karl to weave rope— a prospect failing miserably for several reasons. First and foremost, Karl was <i>hopeless</i> at it. He kept fumbling the knots or losing track of which strand to braid, and it was really too hot to be trying to concentrate on anything anyways. After the fourth attempt, in which Karl somehow ended up tying <i>himself</i> up with the cord, he finally cast it aside with a frustrated groan and Rollond burst into laughter.</p><p>“Gorlog and Orlog, you’re <i>terrible</i>,” Rollond choked out between fits of mirth. Karl scowled at him, but his lips were twitching as he made a poor attempt at suppressing a smile. Rollond tried and failed to collect himself, and settled for pulling Karl close by the hands while smiling so wide it hurt. “Gods, I love you so much. Come here.”</p><p>“Shut up.” Karl rolled his eyes, but collapsed against Rollond’s chest anyways. “<i>You’re</i> the terrible one.”</p><p>“First of all, I’m an angel on earth, second, absolutely not. I would sooner die, or face an eternity of torture—”</p><p>“Shut the <i>fuck</i> up,” Karl groaned and yanked his boyfriend into a kiss, pointedly ignoring Rollond’s self-satisfied hum. He nipped at Rollond’s lip in retaliation and delighted at the growl he received, for all of a few seconds before Rollond grabbed him by the shoulders and tackled him back onto the grass. Karl gave a bark of laughter and kissed him harder than ever, digging his fingers into Rollond’s biceps. It was hard to breathe, hard to think, because every brush of lips and tongue was so good and addicting it tore him apart at the seams. The world became <i>Rollond Rollond Rollond</i>, heat and sunlight and fire burning at every touch and gasp. </p><p>Rollond dropped his head against Karl’s shoulder. “Incorrigible.” His breath and lips were burning hot on Karl’s neck. “That’s what you are.”</p><p>“Too many words,” Karl groused. “I’m too dumb for this.”</p><p>“No, you’re not. Mostly.”</p><p>“I’m going to leave you to die alone in a ravine.”</p><p>“Wow. I love you too, jerk.”</p><p>Karl could feel Rollond’s smile against his mouth. </p><p>…</p><p>Dell was most decidedly suffering. Up near his house, where the sea cliffs met the mountains, at least it was moderately cool. Down in Hallasholm, however, he felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of human-esque candle wax. He’d only come down here in the first place to find Rollond— he’d managed to rent a two-person sailboat, and a good one at that. They’d spent early summer talking about how they’d try and practise sailing, and this was the perfect opportunity. </p><p>There was only one problem: Rollond was nowhere to be found.</p><p>He’d knocked at his friend’s house and no one had answered the door. He’d asked Rollond’s sister at the docks, but she didn’t know either, and that was nothing if not unusual. They were in regular communication, and for him to disappear without telling his sister seemed strange. Something fishy was going on and Dell planned to get to the bottom of it. </p><p>After a half an hour’s searching, Dell admitted it was probably time to give up. Maybe Henjak was around. </p><p>He turned back towards the village and decided to take a shortcut through the woods, navigating a well-hidden path he’d walked many times before. The shade of the trees was a welcome relief from the heat, making the walk so relaxing Dell was practically dozing on his feet. </p><p>He was half-off in his own world, when he was startled by a burst of maniacal laughter from close by, and then a voice Dell recognised— Rollond’s. </p><p>“Hey, if anyone’s out there, this guy is—” his voice was abruptly cut off and Dell was hit with a sudden surge of worry. Was Rollond alright? Was he being hurt? </p><p>He moved in the direction of Rollond’s voice, weaving through a tangled grove of trees into a clearing, and stopped in his tracks. </p><p>He had, in fact, found Rollond. However, said boy currently had a brown-haired boy straddling his lap, both of them locked in a vigorous makeout session. They seemed completely oblivious to his presence (and wow, Dell seriously needs a way to bleach his ears, because he <i>never</i> wants to hear a noise like that again). Rooted to the spot, Dell watched them for a moment before he realised with a fresh jolt of horror that he recognised the other boy. </p><p>Rollond was making out with <i>Tursgud fucking Magnuson’s cousin.</i></p><p>Dell could be subtle, at the best of times. This was certainly not the best of times, and Dell’s brain had just short-circuited, so really, who could blame him if he might have made a rather stupid decision? He was normally the one with the ideas, but this didn’t quite qualify as <i>normal</i>. </p><p>So, instead of doing something sensible like creeping away and leaving them to it, Dell stumbled back awkwardly, broke a branch under his foot, and cursed. Loudly. </p><p>Tursgud’s cousin—Karl, that was his name—whipped around, then froze, his face turning an alarming shade of red. His lips were swollen and his hair dishevelled, and his clothes had been rumpled, presumably because Rollond— and <i>nope</i>, Dell was most decidedly <i>not</i> going to continue with that train of thought. </p><p>Rollond, for his part, looked like he was going to die on the spot. He paused, seemed like he was about to say something, then abruptly shut his mouth. Eventually, he seemed to settle on giving a half-hearted wave, then dropped his hand back on the ground. </p><p>“I— um— hi, Dell,” Rollond said awkwardly, his voice cracking halfway through the greeting. </p><p>Dell, still reeling a bit, again said the first thing that came to mind.</p><p>“What the fuck?”</p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>“And so… yeah. That’s… happening.” Rollond gave him a pleading look. “You won’t say anything, right? I just…” He grasped Karl’s (Rollond’s <i>boyfriend’s</i>) hand, squeezing it tightly. “I love Karl a lot and it… won’t be good if Tursgud or our families find out.”</p><p>Dell was still very weirded out by all of this, but he was a good friend and not about to hurt Rollond like that. He gave a simple nod, keeping his expression as even as possible. </p><p>Apparently, there were several things going on here that he didn’t know about. </p><p>1. Rollond liked guys, apparently. </p><p>2. Rollond was secretly <i>dating</i> a guy, who was Tursgud’s estranged cousin, and Dell doesn’t understand how the <i>hell</i> that could have happened. And he’d apparently stumbled in on one of their clandestine dates. </p><p>3. Tursgud was even more of a bastard than Dell had first thought. </p><p>4. Karl seemed kind of nice, although he was still glaring daggers in Dell’s general vicinity. </p><p>5. Dell’s life was weird as shit. </p><p>“Yeah. I won’t be telling anyone. I’m… glad.. you… guys… are… happy.” Dell shot them an awkward thumbs up, and promptly resisted the urge to slam his head into the ground for being the single most awkward human being in the world. “But yep. Your secret is safe with me, indeed, and you two can get back to… uh… that.” He stood up hastily, his brain screaming at him to run away as far as he could. “Enjoy your… secret kissing stuff. Alright. Yep. Goodbye!”</p><p>He’d be a little ashamed to admit it, but he ran away like a maniac as soon as the last words came out of his mouth. Many, many questions and concerns rose out of the haze of shock that was covering his thoughts, but he shoved them back down into his brain’s patented Now We Don’t Have Time To Unpack All Of That corner and kept running as fast as his legs could carry him. </p><p>He’ll go see if Henjak’s up for sailing instead.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>enjoy the fluff. the next one’s going to be s a d.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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